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F. Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940)Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s liferesembles a fairy tale. DuringWorld War I, Fitzgerald enlisted inthe U.S. Army and fell in love with arich and beautiful girl, Zelda Sayre,who lived near Montgomery, Alabama,where he was stationed.Zelda broke off their engagementbecause he was relatively poor.After he was discharged at war’send, he went to seek his literaryfortune in New York City in order tomarry her.His first novel, This Side ofParadise (1920), became a bestseller,and at 24 they married.Neither of them was able to withstandthe stresses of success andfame, and they squandered theirmoney. They moved to France toeconomize in 1924 and returnedseven years later. Zelda becamementally unstable and had to beinstitutionalized; Fitzgerald himselfbecame an alcoholic and died youngas a movie screenwriter.Fitzgerald’s secure place inAmerican literature rests primarilyon his novel The GreatGatsby (1925), a brilliantly written,economically structured storyabout the American dream of theself-made man. The protagonist,the mysterious Jay Gatsby, discoversthe devastating cost of successin terms of personal fulfillment andlove. Other fine works includeTender Is the Night (1934), about ayoung psychiatrist whose life isdoomed by his marriage to anunstable woman, and some storiesERNEST HEMINGWAYPhoto courtesyPix Publishing, Inc.in the collections Flappers andPhilosophers (1920), Tales of theJazz Age (1922), and All the SadYoung Men (1926). More than anyother writer, Fitzgerald capturedthe glittering, desperate life of the1920s; This Side of Paradise washeralded as the voice of modernAmerican youth. His second novel,The Beautiful and the Damned(1922), continued his exploration ofthe self-destructive extravagance ofhis times.Fitzgerald’s special qualities includea dazzling style perfectly suitedto his theme of seductive glamour.A famous section from TheGreat Gatsby masterfully summarizesa long passage of time: “Therewas music from my neighbor’shouse through the summer nights.In his blue gardens men and girlscame and went like moths amongthe whisperings and the champagneand the stars.”Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)Few writers have lived as colorfullyas Ernest Hemingway, whosecareer could have come out of oneof his adventurous novels. Like Fitzgerald,Dreiser, and many other finenovelists of the 20th century,Hemingway came from the U.S.Midwest. Born in Illinois, Hemingwayspent childhood vacations inMichigan on hunting and fishingtrips. He volunteered for an ambulanceunit in France during WorldWar I, but was wounded and hospitalizedfor six months. After the war,as a war correspondent based in70